Nothing goes quite so well with a crisp autumn evening as a crisp, juicy apple! And what could make that apple better but a coating of sweet candy sprinkled with nuts or candies?

Candy apples go back over a century, to 1908, when a clever candy seller in Newark, New Jersey named William Kolb had the bright idea to melt some of his red sugar candy and pour it over a few apples he had in the back of the shop. He put them in the front window of his shop and before he knew it they'd all sold out! Candy apple sales kept growing until Kolb was selling thousands a year from his shop and candymen up and down the Jersey Shore were copying his bright idea.

It wasn't long before the candy apple became a staple on the boardwalk and at county fairs across the country. The new treat was especially successful at Halloween bonfires and harvest celebrations, when the apples were fresh off the trees.